He took the yellow and green skull down from the string that suspended it from the top of his tent. It was just papier mache, but it still produced an audible “thunk” when Valle rapped it on its head.

Valle had just finished setting up a tent full of his handmade masks at a Mexican Independence Day festival in East Harlem yesterday. For local businesses like Valle’s, the festival was about more than honoring the day that Mexico wrested out of Spain’s control over 200 years ago. It gave them the chance to work their missions — connecting with local communities and preserving the culture of their homelands.

“I’m trying to rescue all these Mexican gods,” Valle said, gesturing to his masks. Hanging next to the skull and the wrestler, or luchador, was a mask of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of war, and another luchador, this one silver.

Valle’s work is expensive, but it’s intricate, too. One mask can take months to finish, and each is handmade entirely by him. The sugar skull goes for $800. Valle’s work usually hangs in restaurants and galleries, but he came to the festival today to make contact with local communities.

“This is the only chance I get to talk to the people, to see what they like,” he said.

People milled in and out of Valle’s tent, sipping ice cold horchata, a sweet Mexican rice drink. It was only 80 degrees out, but the humidity made it feel hotter.

“Es un dia para celebrar,” or, “It’s a day to celebrate,” said festival-goer Rodrigo Cano as he perused the vendors lining the streets, many of them selling handmade goods like Valle’s. Cano came to the United States from Mexico six years ago, but he still peppers his speech with Spanish phrases.

Like the business owners around him, Cano celebrates Mexican Independence day as a means of staying connected to his culture.

“It’s to don’t forget our tradition, where we come from, especially when you are outside your country,” he said.

Local shopowner Carmelo Reyes stands with his drink cart at a Mexican Independence Day festival in East Harlem yesterday. Photo by Amy Zahn

Just across the street from Valle’s tent is the small, locally owned Agave Deli and Grocery. Owner and longtime East Harlem resident Carmelo Reyes ladled sweet beverages into plastic cups before handing them to customers. Aguas frescas, light fruit drinks, are his specialty — jamaica, horchata and mangonada, a drink made with mango and lime. He learned to make these refreshments working in a restaurant in the 1980s.

Reyes stopped ladling horchata to talk.

“Some people don’t have papers,” he said. He opened El Agave on 116th Street in East Harlem to serve the largely Hispanic community in the area. “They’re afraid to come out on the streets because they think they’re going to deport them.” He hopes events like the Independence Day festival help people feel more comfortable in their communities.

Valle chatted with fellow vendor Antonio Rojas during a lull in business. Much like Valle, Rojas came to the festival to show his handmade art and to do his part to keep traditional Mexican culture alive with figures inspired by Mayan, Aztec and Toltec culture.

“It’s to try to make alive our past, our ancestors,” he said. “It’s important because with the passing of the years, a lot of stuff has been lost.” Rojas makes a mold for each piece, which can take over a month to complete.

“Every single one of them has a different meaning,” he said, showing off intricately carved Aztec and Mayan calendars. The calendars laid next to skulls and a Pyramid of Kukulkan, a well-known landmark from Chichen Itza in the Mexican state of Yucatan.

Members of Make The Road NY sing songs, share meals, and learn about their rights. Above is Angel Vera, of Make The Road NY. Photo by Neil Giardino.

It seems fitting that a teenage political activist in Ecuador would one day work with a social justice organization in the largest Hispanic city in the US. Gladys Puglla has been a representative for Make The Road New York, a non-profit whose goal is to empower Latino and working class communities in New York City, for the past seven years.

On the eve of President Obama’s executive action speech on immigration reform, Puglla and members of Make the Road New York are galvanized by the fact that many of the issues they fight for as Latino immigrants are slowly becoming part of a national dialogue. Chief among the group’s concerns is the difficulty they experience holding down safe and economical housing in a city in the throes of an affordable housing crisis. With language barriers, and bereft of an understanding of their rights as renters, thousands of Latino immigrants experience harassment and unsafe living conditions in the city.

Puglla downplays her stint as a political organizer for an Ecuadorian presidential candidate in the 80s. “I was helping in the marching and passing the word about him a little bit, but my school and my grandmother didn’t let me go out so much,” she said with a laugh. But her work on the housing committee at Make The Road New York cannot be underestimated. Last year alone, Make The Road New York helped prevent the eviction of more than 60 families and worked to repair unsafe living conditions for thousands in New York City.

Funded through private donations and a $120 membership fee (which members have three years to pay off), Make The Road New York provides members with legal representation in Housing Court and informs members of their rights as renters. They meet every Thursday. Zoraida Conde, of Bedstuy, Brooklyn, attends because she wants to learn her rights. “They put me in jail if I don’t comply with the law. But if the landlord does the same thing — they break the law — they get away. And it’s not fair,” said Conde, who claims her landlord steals and reroutes gas in her building, resulting in exorbitantly high bills which are beginning to jeopardize her credit.

Tenant harassment and the threat of eviction can be most devastating to the elderly.

Maria Khochaiche, who has called 1351 Hancock St. in Bushwick, Brooklyn, home for the last 40 years, now faces eviction after her refusal to pay rent after it was raised by an additional $2,100. In her 70s, Khochaiche says her health has declined on account of the situation.

“I don’t know what I going to do. I couldn’t sleep and I’m getting sick. I had a heart attack. I have a lot of problems,” she said.

Lawyers working for Make The Road New York are currently representing her in Housing Court. With the transformation of Latino communities like this one in Bushwick, Puglla said the group will continue to fight for its members.

“We are trying to get more housing lawyers so that no one who comes in here goes empty handed,” she said.

Ana Maria Jemenez at the celebration of the Day of the Dead in Corona Park, Queens. Photo by Maria Panskaya

For Ana Maria Jemenez, celebrating the Day of the Dead on November 2nd in Corona, Queens was not all about cheer and fun. She, along with other immigrants from Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Dominican Republic and El Salvador, instead talked about their concerns regarding the upcoming midterm elections and it’s effect on the immigration reform.

The DREAM Act, which was first introduced in 2001, provided some residential rights to illegal immigrants under the age of 35, allowing them to get work authorization and educational opportunities. So far only 15 states have their versions on the DREAM Act, including New York State.

“I brought my son illegally to this country,” said Jemenez, 39. “He is now 13 and goes to school. I want him to have good education and good future.”

Jemenez, unlike her son who is living in the U.S. under the DREAM Act, is facing deportation. Her case has been with the Immigration Services department for two years. She lives in fear that one day someone would knock on her door and deport her back to Colombia.

Living in fear and barely making ends meet while working two jobs, Jemenez refuses to stay ignorant about her rights as an undocumented worker and constantly follows any developments on immigration reforms as well as senate, house, presidential, or even local government elections. Never use illegal alien..it is considered offensive.

“Yes, I cannot vote,” said Jemenez, who only has a little trace of a Colombian accent. “But it doesn’t mean that I don’t care. I always hope that immigrants like me would get more rights, just like President Obama promised.”

Jemenez, said she understands how the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives operate and is very concerned about the outcome of the midterm elections..

“If Republicans win, we, and I mean all immigrants, are going to be deported,” said Jemenez. “Republicans don’t like Latinos. But we work hard, we love this country. The jobs we do, American would never do.”

Jemenez works at a local grocery store, doing everything from scrubbing floors to working at the cash register. The storeowner pays her $6.75 per hour. Since she doesn’t have legal papers there is nobody she can complain to. According to Jemenez, if Republicans win the senate she will lose the little that she has now.

Miriam Guzman, 42, from Mexico, works as a fulltime babysitter for $10 an hour. If she weren’t an illegal immigrant, her salary would be $15 an hour.

“Family I work for is rich,” said Guzman. “They hired me because I speak Spanish and their children love me. They pay me less because they know I have no papers and no choice, but to accept what they give me.”

Miriam Guzman and her fiancé, Greorge Pateka. Photo by Maria Panskaya

Despite the fact that the midterm election turnout is usually quite low, with turnout of eligible voters never going beyond 50% according to the Center for Voting and Democracy, undocumented immigrants from Latin America fully understand that midterm elections can be even more important than the presidential election.

“What people don’t realize is that the outcome of the midterm elections will determine the future of the country and possibly effect the presidential election outcome in 2016,” said Alan Acosta, 34, a Hispanic community activist and volunteer, Queens. “I received my green card a year ago under the DREAM Act, after a nine-year-long battle with paper work, and I’m going to vote on Tuesday. Sometimes one vote can make a difference.”

Acosta came to the U.S. illegally from Dominican Republic when he was 19, before the DREAM Act was introduced. But the act eventually made him eligible for getting social security, then work authorization and citizenship.

“This was a dream come true,” said Acosta. “I want every immigrant to experience the joy and relief I experienced a year ago.”

According to Pew Research Center, the percentage of eligible Hispanic voters is dropping by seven percent each year nationwide. One of the issues of low turnout among Latinos is underrepresentation.

“We have a black president and the majority of congress, senate and house officials are white,” said Jemenez. “I want to see more Hispanic representatives. I feel like Latino population doesn’t vote that much is because there is nobody we can vote for.”

According to Migration Policy Institute, undocumented immigrants from Latin America represent 46% of all foreign born immigrants, who currently reside in the U.S., with 28% of them being Mexicans. Indians and Chinese, along with other Asian countries, represent 29% combined together. The other 25% are immigrants from Europe and Africa.

All immigrants who cross the border with the U.S. on illegal terms, whether smuggled on a ship or train or traveled with fake passports, have one dream in common—becoming the U.S. citizens. While the Obama administration has expressed strong support for numerous immigration reforms, like the DREAM Act, the majority of those propositions were voted down in the Senate.

In May 2014 New York State tried to expend the DREAM Act policy by enacting free college education to immigrants, but the initiative hadn’t been passed.

“It’s already hard enough for the president and his aids to pass any bill and to get it approved,” said Acosta. “And it’s going to be even worse if Republicans win the Senate. The next two years are going to be hell not only for the president, but also for all immigrants.”

It’s not quite an art gallery, not quite a language school, and not quite a music venue.

But El Taller Latino-Americano is a little bit of all those things, and most of all it has become a cultural institution on the Upper West Side over the last two decades. With rising rents, it’s about to be driven out of the area.

“Despite the fact that we are a not-for-profit educational organization, the rent which we engage in with the landlord is commercial,” said Bernardo Palombo, a founder of El Taller.

It’s expected to rise from $8000to $22,000 per month next year.

“What for us is human space is for others mathematics and numbers,” said Palombo.

This is not the first time Manhattan’s property market has forced them to move.

They started out on 19th Street and 7th Avenue almost 35 years ago, before moving a little further uptown, then across to the basement of a Russian cathedral in the Lower East Side. They’ve been in their current space on 104th Street and Broadway for the last 22 years.

“Now we are here, and probably next year we will be in Canada, because the whole history of gentrification pushes people to el norte, so we are going to el norte again,” said Palombo.

He has a plan for El Taller – to develop an urban garden, community kitchen, centre for immigrants’ rights and a three-penny university – if he can find a way to stay in the building.

The three-penny university would include workshops from current and former Columbia University professors and community members.

“Dona Maria, a Puerto Rican woman who lives next to my house, will teach handy 22 point crochet,” said Palombo, “And the younger characters that are selling drugs in the avenue will teach texting to the old farts like me.”

El Taller has submitted the proposal to two different arts foundations, suggesting they buy the building and help expand the organization.

But if the rent rises as expected, it is likely Palombo and El Taller will have to find a new home for these big ideas to unfold.

Pastor Michael Rivera praying over Spanish Evangelical Church members in the East Village. Photo by Corrie Mitchell.

Pastor Michael Rivera is a registered Republican who hasn’t yet decided how he’ll vote on Nov. 6. As a Latino evangelical he has the difficult choice of voting in the best interest of most of his congregants or in line with his own closely held conservative convictions.

“The Latino evangelical has a major decision to make,” said the 34-year-old Rivera, who was born in Puerto Rico and leads the Spanish Evangelical Church in the East Village at 76 Second Avenue, an affiliate of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Rivera, who lives in Ridgefield, N.J., has been the lead pastor there for a year and a half now, and before that served as the assistant pastor at this 62-year-old church for eight years.

As an evangelical, Rivera shares the GOP’s conservative values, he explained, including a strong opposition to abortion (though he cites differences within the party and evangelicals regarding circumstances such as rape) and the belief that marriage, a Biblical covenant, should be protected—between only a man and woman.

And yet, he said, “The Latino has another perspective, because he or she is a minority,” noting the number of social programs that matter greatly to Latinos in his congregation, such as welfare and food stamps. Republicans tend to minimize, oppose or ignore these as election issues. “It’s a Catch-22,” he said. “It’s very, very difficult. “

Felipe Narvaez, a 58-year-old member of Rivera’s church who lives on East 26th Street, is a native Puerto Rican who originally considered not voting in this election. Given that neither candidate shares Narvaez’s evangelical background, the decision for him was hard. Narvaez is a registered Democrat who said that after much prayer, he realized he needed to vote. Setting aside religion as a factor, he decided to vote for the sitting president.

“I don’t think four years was enough,” Narvaez said. “I feel, and I pray, that he’s going to move forward.” He also said that he looked favorably on President Barack Obama’s family-man image, as well as Michelle Obama’s involvement in her husband’s politics.

The choice was no struggle for another of Rivera’s church members, Edward Lopez. He is also a committed Latino evangelical (actually Palestinian and Mexican on his father’s side, Spanish and Puerto Rican on his mother’s) who is registered to vote as a Democrat. He feels certain Obama will win the election.

“I’ve asked God to give me answers, and my heart dictates that,” Lopez, a Bronx resident, said. “I believe it’s God’s will. I believe Obama is a tool for God’s will and for carrying out His prophecies.”

Latino evangelicals make up 16 percent of all Latino registered voters, a group that now constitutes 11 percent of the national electorate, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Lopez and Narvaez’s support of the incumbent appears to be common in this group. The poll indicated that 50 percent of Latino evangelical Protestants support Obama, compared to 19 percent of white evangelicals, while 39 percent of Latino evangelicals favor the Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, compared to 74 percent of white evangelicals.

Lopez believes that the average income level in the Latino community accounts for this evangelical split. A September report by the U.S. Census Bureau found that one in four Latinos were living below the poverty line in 2011, and that the median annual household income for this demographic was $38,624. “There’s barely anybody that could be considered middle class in our congregation,” he said.

Pastor Rivera said another reason for the difference is that white evangelical voters tend to be less enamored of government-sponsored social programs. To be able to pull oneself up by the bootstraps with some government assistance comes harder for Latinos, he said.

“If your last name is Vasquez or Lopez,” he said, “your application might not be viewed the same as if your last name is Smith.” Simply put, prejudice is still an issue that this minority group faces.

“Being a minority, I feel that has a lot to do with it,” said Narvaez of the Latino evangelical tendency to vote Democratic. He explained that many Latinos, particularly the older or illiterate voters, would rather cast their vote for an African American than a white candidate. Narvaez worked in real estate before he became disabled.

As for Pastor Rivera, he does not preach politics when he stands in front of his congregation of 100 or so members seated in wooden pews with fleurs-de-lis carved into the backs of the benches. On Sunday meetings at 11:30 a.m., with a backlit, pointed cross behind him and above his head the words “SANTIDAD A JEHOVA,” or, in English, Holiness to the Lord, his sermons focus on the Bible. He will not even tell his congregants which candidate he plans to vote for when they come seeking his advice about the election. He tells them to vote based on who most closely represents their values. They must weigh the moral versus the societal issues.

Lopez, for his part, sees this presidential election as a choice between “the lesser of two evils.” As a 16-year veteran of Wall Street who worked in trading systems and technology, originally at Swiss Bank (now UBS), Lopez noted that economics and the deficit play as much a role in his considerations of the candidates as do the Bible and prophecies.

Pastor Rivera does not share the disdain for or discomfort with Romney’s Mormon faith that a number of white evangelical religious leaders, such as Internet evangelist Bill Keller,have publicly expressed. He said the Republican’s religious beliefs would have no influence on his decision in the voting booth. “He’s no more or less Christian than Obama,” he said, adding that he takes a more inward look at the person, rather than at the religion he might profess. And yet, he said, “I’m still at a conundrum, still torn.”

A group of young “DREAMers” intends to throw a wrench into the November election plans by waking up a sleeping giant – American Latinos.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus – a group of Latino members of U.S. Congress – and supporters of the national Dream Act stood in the shadow of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on April 19 to launch the “Su Voz, Mi Voto” campaign.

Undocumented students and their allies will walk door-to-door in their home states telling their personal stories to people who will listen. “DREAMers” looking to pass the Dream Act want to motivate thousands of their Latino neighbors to use their votes as legal citizens to bring in a candidate who will support the immigration reform bill.

Republican front-runner Mitt Romney is known for his anti-immigration stance, while President Barack Obama supports the DREAM Act but has failed to follow through with the passage of the bill first introduced in 2001. The legislation would help qualified individuals go to college or enlist in the military with a path to citizenship they otherwise would not have. In 2010, the National Dream Act reached the U.S. Senate, but was defeated by a Republican filibuster.

Latinos and immigrants – legal and undocumented – want to make their voices heard at the polls. The “Su Voz, Mi Voto” campaign is backed by the DRM Capitol Group, a lobbying firm dedicated to driving campaigns for the adoption of the Dream Act, and the iDREAM organization.

“We’re here to send a strong message to both parties that the Dream Act doesn’t belong to any party,” said Cesar Vargas, 28, DREAMer and managing partner of DRM Capitol Group. “We’re fighting for our community, our families – not for any political party. We want to send a message to end deportation and for them to act and take leadership,” he said.

Today, the Republican primaries hit five northeastern states –- New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Rhode Island. Romney is expected to pick up most of the 209 delegates up for grabs, bringing him much closer to the end goal of 1,144 delegates by November – his ticket to contest for the White House.

While Romney celebrates another primary sweep, dreamers are hoping to leverage 22 million Latino votes toward the more promising candidate.

Rep. Nydia Velazquez of New York wants to see 22 million Hispanic Americans at this year’s polls -– a 25 percent increase from 2008.

“We will hold accountable those who have failed to support these main policies,” Velazquez said.

She added that it wasn’t a surprise that Obama has a 40 percent lead against Romney among Latino voters.

“We will be out there reminding our Latino voters, our Latino community and immigrants in general who stood with us on this important issue,” she said.

In 2008, 19.5 million Latinos were eligible to vote, but half did not cast ballots, because they were not registered or did not turn out.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a councilmember from Chicago and chairman to Immigration Task Force Chairman said it’s an “altruistic” and “noble” task to utilize a vote for group that would be otherwise unheard.

“It’s going to take the hard work of individuals like the ones standing here with us, knocking on doors and getting neighbors who are eligible to vote to get registered,” he said.

PHILADELPHIA – Battling against neighborhood drug dealers and a rough economy, business owners in El Bloque de Oro are keeping a tight grip on their Latino traditions to sustain and revitalize their community with cultural programming.

In the Fairhill district of North Philadelphia, El Bloque de Oro is known as the Golden Block of Latino culture, art, music and food, but this commercial district does not appear as lustrous as it sounds. Taking many hits over the years, including a “badlands” reputation that was popularized by the novel Third and Indiana, community members struggle to maintain their beloved neighborhood.

“El Bloque de Oro is a community that is still embattered by very challenging economic pressures and that brings all of the ills of drug addiction and high levels of crime,” said Carmen Febo-San Miguel, executive director of Taller Puertorriqueno, an organization that promotes Latino art and cultural programs in the area.

Obtaining data from internal police memos, Philadelphia Weekly published a 2007 report listing the nearby intersection of Third Street and Indiana Avenue as number two for the top ten drug corners in Philadelphia.

Many business owners in the area do not agree with the dire portrayal of drugs in their community.

“There’s still some drug users in the surrounding neighborhood, but you don’t see them as rampant as they were in the 80’s,” said Christina Gonzalez, 39, President of Centro Musical.

The economic recession has also hit the community hard.

“We are going through a crisis right now, but little by little we are starting to come back” said Wilfredo Gonzalez, owner of Centro Musical.

Marta Diaz, 63, of Diaz Meat Market has worked hard to clean up this undeserved bad publicity by performing social work with local business owners to promote the area. Diaz has lived in her artfully decorated home above her husband’s meat market for 38 years and says she has seen the rise and fall of the area.

“Someone made up the term badlands to refer to our community because there was a lot of controversy and problems for a while,” Diaz said. “This was because of all the new people coming in and out who had no perception of how to take care of their neighborhood and the traditions that we keep in this community.”

The Hispanic Association of Contractors and Enterprises is working to revitalize the area with a vibrant, Latino-themed design. They predict that repairs of the signature golden sidewalks and street lamps designed as Caribbean palm trees will create a safer and more attractive commercial district. Business owners are positive about the changes and hope this will bring in tourism and boost up the rich cultures that enliven this commercial district.

According to Diaz, there is a unified sense of cultural pride and passion in the neighborhood, and business owners urge people to look deeper and see what truly lies at the heart of their community.

“We think that one day this will change and I feel satisfied with the people who have worked with the community for many years and seen it fall and rise.” Diaz said. “We aren’t giving up and we continue lifting ourselves up and keep working hard.”